CMS releases new Medicaid State Plan Amendment Templates

View in browser | Distributed by Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services (CMCS) Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released four Medicaid State Plan Amendment (SPA) templates. These templates are designed to streamline state submission of the required SPAs and ensure they meet all federal requirements. The templates being released are: American Rescue Plan (ARP) COVID-19 coverage mandates Mandatory benefit for coverage of COVID-19 vaccines and administration without cost sharing Mandatory benefit for coverage of COVID-19 testing, including at-home tests, without cost-sharing for most Medicaid beneficiaries Mandatory benefit for coverage of COVID-19 related treatments, including specialized equipment and therapies (including preventive therapies) without cost-sharing Two Templates (3.1A and 3.1B) for Mandatory benefit for coverage of routine patient costs furnished in connection with participation by Medicaid beneficiaries in qualifying clinical trials CMS is also releasing a new section 1135 waiver template that states can use to request flexibilities related to SPA effective date, public notice, and tribal consultation when the President has declared a major disaster or an emergency under the Stafford Act, or an emergency under the National Emergencies Act, and the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services has declared a public health emergency. While this template is available for any SPA submitted in response to such a disaster or emergency, CMS is releasing it at this time for States use, as needed, for SPAs submitted in response to the ARP COVID-19 coverage mandates. Template for states to elect section 1135 flexibilities to be used in conjunction with the ARP provisions so that states can meet statutory timeframes All of the Templates are available on the Medicaid SPA Toolkit page of Medicaid.gov.

 

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